To Noob or Not to Noob? 0

[Extrovert]

I collected heavily from the 70s into the 90s, then life took me in different directions. I kept my collection intact, bagged and boxed and safe from harm for the last couple of decades. Like many of you, I've recently had some time on my hands. I've had a blast digging out my books and checking out values, and considering grades. I was always a Marvel guy and I'm amazed to see the way the values have been affected by the slew of Marvel movies that have, shockingly - mostly been damn good. I've seperated just shy of 170 comics from the rest, the most valuable and highest grades, etc. About half of those have been in mylar bags with acid free backing for probably 20 years. Oddly, most of the mylar bags weren't meant, or don't appear to have been meant, to be folded and sealed. There's so little mylar left at the top of the sleeve? I guess, that you can't fold it down. Luckily I see no issue from that exposure on the comics, but I'm now looking at mylar bags that fold over and can be taped shut, for all the best books I have. Any recommendations? I'd also like to pick up some new boxes. I don't know how much boxes have changed in the last few decades, but I want some good sturdy long boxes and would love to find a box that would hold about 170 board- backed comics snugly, to keep them nice and flat. I've also never had anything slabbed... but that's a story for another day. I will say, I'm quite impressed by my teenage self. I made some damn good choices on comics, and typically bought multiple copies of what turned out to be key issues. I've once again been bitten by the bug. Cheers!

[serling1978]

That's a pretty cool story. I also collected as a teen in the early 90s but a good chunk of my books from that time got water damage in a house I previously owned. Mostly silver age xmen and the Strang tales, tales to astonish, and tales of suspense books 😭

As far as the bags, I usually buy Mylite bags and boards. Very high quality.  BCW makes good solid boxes. 

[marvelmaniac]

Welcome To The Boards!!!

People will (or should) tell you not to use Scotch Tape to tape the Mylites shut.

Use a tape that can be removed easily and will not leave a residue on the bag that the book can potentially get caught on when removing/placing in the bag.(Ask me how I know)

I used regular tape for years and still do being EXTREMELY careful when removing the books so I am not 100% sure what people are using instead of regular tape, "painters tape" may work or "removable stickers".

ENJOY your "new found, old collection" !!!

 

[csaag]

My story is somewhat analogous to yours.  Except it was late 70's to late 80's - all mine were in polybags with mylars only for the ones I bought off the wall of my LCS. Still they seemed to hold up fairly well.   In my case I was home 2 weeks a little over a year ago as my wife recovered from a surgery.  So a lot of that time was spent in the basement pouring over those old long boxes and cataloging everything.  Brought back lots of memories and has been a lot of fun educating myself to this whole new idea of 'CGC'  - which I had never heard of.  Welcome!

[slym2none]

I always make a little folded over "tab" to make tape removal easier, but the Mylars/Mylites/etc. have a tendency to hold onto the sticky when tape is peeled off. Best to use something proven, such as the "dots", or even painter's tape.

With polybags, I would never use anything thick to seal a bag because the weight of the bags & comics, while being possibly pressed together while in a box, can (not will, but can) leave indentations on comics through bags, but I've never seen this problem with Mylar.



-slym